For the past two weeks here at the White Towel, we’ve taken a forensic look at the Vancouver Canucks’ roster. Next week we investigate Ryan Stanton, Mike Santorelli, Zac Dalpe, Chris Tanev and Dan Hamhuis. But first, a guy whose tenure as a Canuck exceeds all five of those teammates …

Career stats: 157 goals, 152 assists—309 points in 618 games with 896 PIM and a plus-122 rating

Contract status: Three years remaining at $4.5 million U.S. cap hit; real dollars: $5 million U.S. in 2014-15, $4 million U.S. in 2015-16, $3 million in the final year.

How 2013-14 went: Playing for the most money he has ever played for, at a whopping $6 million U.S. in real dollars, the season was about as miserable as you could imagine for a player who has been such a fan favourite. Under coach John Tortorella he got hurt early and often in easily his most forgettable season as a Canuck, whereby he amassed an astonishingly low five goals, playing most of that time (41 games) with the Sedin twins. To make matters worse, he followed the season up by getting a severe charley-horse at the world championship in Belarus. In fact, Burrows should probably avoid international play altogether in the future as he’s been hurt in both (2012 was his first) his world championship appearances, fortunately returning to action on both occasions, with Canada being eliminated in the quarterfinals both years.

How the future looks: This is clearly a great concern to new president Trevor Linden and his freshly appointed GM Jim Benning, given Burr’s age and the stunning decay in his game last season. Many feel that when healthy he still has enough jump to return to his old form, and he showed brief flashes of that ability last season, although consistency was never present. On the negative side, he would have to be included in any discussions of naming the team’s one remaining compliance buyout, although David Booth and Jason Garrison are probably ahead of him in that consideration.

Greatest strength: At this point his strengths are his experience, his great tenacity and his ability to play well with the Sedin twins, when all is right. He is a tireless worker and he has also fashioned some chemistry with Ryan Kesler, one of the very few players who can make such a wildly improbable boast. As his remarkable career plus-minus figure would indicate, he is also tremendously responsible defensively, and he brings those skills to bear killing penalties and frequently playing against the other team’s best lines. He can also be an extremely good agitator, forcing the opposition into taking ill-advised penalties; but when he goes too far, this same tendency could and should be listed in the following category …

Greatest weakness: There have been many stages in his career and there were times early when it appeared he was nowhere close to being an NHL player. But he worked like a demon, up through the East Coast league and the AHL, and improved himself to the point where he became indispensible to the Canucks, at one point. This past season was a turning point and now people are noticing the warts, which tend to be a lack of speed and a tendency to take penalties. Also, you have to wonder about his ability to score, given his production has dropped like a stone recently: just 18 goals in his past 96 games, playing with very high end talent.

Is he trade bait? He would interest some cheapo teams in that in the last two years of the contract his money payment is less than the cap hit, but given his struggles the past two seasons and the no-trade contract he enjoys, it’s unlikely he’s going anywhere.

The big question: Far and away the biggest question facing Burrows at this point is his health and whether or not he can stay in the lineup and remain effective, given his advancing years with skating never his strength. The indicators of his past two seasons are certainly terrifying from a management perspective, but obviously injuries have been a factor and his numbers, while dropping off severely, are indicative of the same dropoff experienced by the Sedin twins. Last year Tortorella had everyone focused on blocking shots, and that certainly turned out to be something that slowed Burrows. At this point, his confidence is going to be a question mark too, seeing things went poorly at the world championship. All in all, however, Burrows leaves management in the same position as a lot of his long-time teammates, which is to say they must sit and hope that he can somehow return to form and justify Benning’s introductory statement, claiming he believes strongly in this team’s core.

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